DragonMech
by waistcoat35
Summary: "Dragons stalk the streets, puffing smoke and clattering their mechanical wings." That's what Hilary Smullet said. That was twenty years ago, when she saw one of the first mechanical dragons. Now, they're everywhere, and Caleb Steampunket is training to work with them.
1. Prologue

**DragonMech**

 **Prologue**

"Dragons stalk the streets, puffing smoke and clattering their mechanical wings..." That was what Hilary Smullet always said. This was twenty years ago, when we found her diary. When dragons were scarce, and only a few were still alive. When she saw the very first mechanical dragon.

Now... Well, now they're all over the place. Nobody knows how the first mechanical dragon appeared - as far as we know, they are living creatures. I mean, they eat and sleep just like the rest of us. They don't drink water, though, because they'd rust.

The thing with mechanical dragons is, their scales seem to be made of metal. They feel and look like metal, and if they get too wet for too long they rust. Their fire is hotter than anything we have, as if there's some sort of mighty furnace inside them. I can imagine the fire blazing inside them, shaping within their cavernous bodies, pressing against the metallic armour of their scales to be released into the air, gracing the world with it's blistering, blazing glory.

I've always loved the Mechanical Dragons. People say that they used to be like eastern dragons - normal scales, no wings, but with good hearts and courageous minds. That they were saddened by the fact they could not fly and asked a human to make them some wings. He did, and he made them of scrap metal, silver and gold and copper and bronze and tin and all sorts of other wonderful materials. But they had nothing to attatch the wings to, so the human made them armour, thick and sturdy, that the wings were attatched to. The dragons were so thrilled with their new wings that they never took their armour off.

Eventually, they stayed in it for so long that it became their real skin, and they became the Mechanical Dragons that we know today.

I don't know if it's true, but it could be. There are many, many Mechanical Dragons that could prove it to you, but no living person has ever heard one speak.

But there's one thing I do know:

My name is Caleb Steampunket, and I'm training to be a dragon mechanic.

 **Based on a quote by Hilary Mantel.**


	2. Chapter One

**DragonMech**

 **Chapter One**

I hammer on a piece of metal repeatedly at the forge, trying to get it thin enough to enable a dragon to fly. I'm using a special type of metal that's lighter and thinner than any other, because nothing else can support a Mechanical Dragon in flight. Because they're reasonably heavy due to their metal scales, they need to make up for it by having the lightest wings possible.

Grater comes in as I'm hammering, and eyes my work so far with distaste. "Too thick still, keep hammering!" He barks, before disappearing behind the curtain to his study. Probably writing a message to the council to tell them he doesn't want me fulfill my dream and become a Dragon Mechanic. Isn't he nice?

I've been stuck in this place for as long as I can remember. My parents were supposedly killed in an explosion when visiting family nearby, but I try not to dwell on it. I never really knew them, seeing as I was six months old when it happened. The way I see it, there's no point in mourning what you've never had, because it might not be all it's cracked up to be.

No, I don't mind being parentless. I don't like the word "Orphan"- It makes me sound like some tragic hero, which I'm not. My parents are dead, never knew them, now I'm stuck in a forge working overtime until I can do something decent with my life. That's all it is, the way I see it.

Most people couldn't take the heat in here, but after a lifetime of working beside the blistering temperatures of the furnaces I'm used to it. I take off my safety goggles - Grater says I don't need any, but I need both my eyes for my work, so I'd rather not lose one in an accident in here - and use my sleeve to wipe the steam and precipitation off them.

The metal's almost thin enough - good, this is my demonstration work that I'm presenting to the council. If they like it, then new job, here I come. If not... Well, then I'll either be stuck back with Grater or even lower down.

Just as I finish hammering this piece, Grater appears again and drags me behind the curtain. "Get out of the way!" He hisses. "There's a special customer, and I don't want you putting them off!"

I had been put out of the way when a customer comes before, but the urgency in his voice suggested that this one was different.

And I was right. As I peered out from behind the curtain, I saw the largest Mechanical Dragon I've ever seen.


End file.
